In rock climbing, an outdoor sport that involves skillfully ascending rock cliffs using the hands and feet for balance and power, the climbers hands are used in a variety of positions to grip, hold and cling to the rock. There are two broad categories of rock climbing: face climbing and crack climbing. In face climbing, the climber primarily uses the fingertips and the palm of the hand to grasp features on the surface of a rock face. In contrast, the climber grasps or clings to the rock in crack climbing by inserting a hand into a crack and manipulating the hand so as to create normal forces between the hand and the interior surfaces of the crack that, in turn, create enough frictional force to allow ascension of the crack.
Two of the problems encountered when rock climbing bare-handed and especially during crack climbing are: (1) that the skin of the hand can become cut, scratched, bruised and/or abraded through contact with the rock; and (2) that the hand slips on the rock because of the relatively low frictional engagement between the skin of the hand and the rock due, among other things, to perspiration and the relatively low coefficient of friction between the hand and the rock.
To increase the frictional engagement between the hand and the rock, climbers have used gymnastic chalk to absorb perspiration. Unfortunately, as the climber's hand perspires the chalk becomes saturated and turns into a slick paste that reduces the frictional engagement between the climber's hand and the rock. While chalk does provide some increase in the frictional engagement between the hand and the rock, it does not offer any protection from cuts, scratches, bruises and/or abrasions resulting from the hand contacting th rock.
One way to protect the skin of the hand and reduce hand slippage is to wrap the hand with medical adhesive tape. Among the problems associated with taping the hand are: (1) the tape only offers a moderate improvement over bare-handed climbing with respect to the prevention of cuts, scratches, bruises, and/or abrasions; (2) the frictional engagement between the tape and the rock is not much better than that of bare skin; (3) the tape inhibits the climber's ability to manipulate the hand; (4) the adhesion of the tape to the skin of the hand decreases as the hand perspires, thereby causing the tape to slip and expose the bare hand to the rock; (5) the process of taping and untaping the hand is a time-consuming process; and (6) the tape, once removed, cannot readily be reused.
Rock climbers in cold environments have used fingerless gloves which provide protection from the cold while also allowing the climber to sense or feel the rock surface. These gloves are usually composed of a fluffy or spongy material, such as knit wool or a synthetic pile fabric, that provide insulation by trapping air in the interstices of the material. While such fingerless gloves do offer some protection from cuts, scratches, bruises and/or abrasions during climbing, they also exhibit a relatively low coefficient of friction that causes them to slip, especially during crack climbing. In addition, when using these gloves for crack climbing, the climber must generate sufficient forces by manipulation of their hand to both compress the glove material and establish sufficient frictional forces between the glove, once compressed, and the interior surfaces of the crack to allow ascension.
Also known are gloves for use in other athletic activities. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,411,024, which issued to Hayes on Oct. 25, 1983, discloses a glove for contact sports that utilizes a plurality of discrete foam-filled, protective protrusions to protect the back of the user's hand. The glove is attached to the user's hand using a wrist strap, finger loops and a band that extends across the palm of the user's hand. Also known are athletic gloves that pad the palm area of the user's hand using spongy, shock absorbent materials, such as foam rubber. Exemplary of such gloves are U.S. Pat. No. 3,606,614, which issued to Dimitroff on Sep. 21, 1971, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,561,122, which issued to Stanley et al., on Dec. 31, 1985. U.S. Pat. No. 4,754,499 which issued to Pirie on July 5, 1988, discloses a gripper pad that is adapted to cover the palm area of a user's hand during athletic or recreational activities. The pad is preferably made of a neoprene rubber material that aids the user in gripping an object, such as a weight-lifting bar. It is also known that surfers and divers employ gloves made of foamed rubbers, such as neoprene, for protection against the cold and to provide waterproofness. Exemplary of such a glove is U.S. Pat. No. 4,785,479, which issued to Watanabe on Nov. 22, 1988.
Gloves are also employed in various occupational activities. For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 4,675,913, which issued to Rockwell on June 30, 1987, discloses a glove for protecting the knuckles, back of hands, and back of the thumbs of an auto mechanic or other workman. The glove employs a sharkskin pad backed by rubber to protect the back of the hand. The glove is attached to the user's hand by a wrist band anchor strap having a VELCRO fastener and a plurality of elastomeric bands. The glove also includes a rubber backed sharkskin pad adapted to cover a portion of the user's palm and to said in gripping tools and the like. Also known is U.S. Pat. No. 4,742,578, which issued to Seid on May 10, 1988 for a penetration-resistant surgical glove. The surgical glove is made of a thin, resilient and elastic material such as latex.
While the gloves disclosed in the aforementioned patents do serve the purposes for which they were designed, none of these gloves specifically address the needs and problems encountered in the rock climbing environment. Consequently, there exists a need for a glove that addresses the needs and problems attendant to rock climbing.